Museology

Belvedere beside which was built the first cascade of the Botanical Garden

Kuhlmann and members of the Mission Massart Itatiaia Forest Reserve in 1930.

Einstein's visit to the Botanical Garden with director Leo Pacheco and a rabbi.

Devastation of forest in the Amazon region.

Camping with the members of the Mission Massart.

The photographic collection has around 12,000 images and documents of many periods and aspects of the Botanical Garden, providing historical sources of information. A highlight of the collection are the 2,000 glass negatives from between 1900 and 1940, due to their documental value and importance.

Another meaningful collection are the photographs of the administration of João Geraldo Kuhlmann (1944-1951), showing not only aspects of the Garden, but also expeditions in different parts of Brazil. The role of the naturalist as one of the greatest collectors of the institution is undeniable, since he visited distant parts of the country and collected unique specimens of the Amazon forest.

Other image registers can be highlighted, such as the visit of the scientist Albert Einstein to the Botanical Garden, the visit of the Belgian scientists leaded by Jean Massart or the flora of Itatiaia National Park when it was still a Biological Research Station of the Botanical Garden.

The photographic collection spans through more than a hundred years, marking relevant moments in the history of the Institution, as well as Brazilian and foreign expeditions that took place in the Brazilian territory. Those are important documentes that on which the knowledge on Brazilian biological diversity is based.

Research Field: Applied Social Sciences

Research Line: Natural, cultural and environmental patrimony: the musealization and patrimonialization processes

Objective: Identify and analyze the musealization and patrimonialization processes of the natural, cultural and environmental goods on the institutionalized or socially and culturally legitimated networks, by means of their manifestations such as botanical gardens, museums, reserves, parks and others. It encompasses museological conservation, documenting, research and communication processes focusing on their informational specificities. It is aimed at the understanding of the relations between society, culture, museum and patrimony and its specific meanings established in the Brazilian political and social context and on the institutionalization of the environmental subject.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

1Follow the news of the Botanical Garden with information, news releases and events